Group items tagged

A very interesting article to read and reflect on prior to working as an employment counsellor, as many clients have worked, currently work, or will work in precarious employment relationships. The article defines precarious employment, gives a brief history, and provides great insight into why precarious employment is on the rise. It includes a study of about 400 workers in precarious employment in Ontario, and outlines the negative health benefits. Some of these include uncertainties in the following areas: uncertainty of future work, of level of income/ benefits, location of work, schedule, workload uncertainty, etc., which ultimately lead to negative effects in people's mental and physical health.

This article reiterates what The Shift argues throughout the section on becoming an innovative connector. It also provides a few helpful tools and ideas for starting, and building your own network, and emphasizes the importance in doing so. Although the article is brief, it provides significant information about how the process of networking works, as well as diminishes the negative views towards the career development tool. The article not only relays different means of establishing networks - suggesting conferences, or contacting former employers, or classmates - but it also includes strategies specific to both the outgoing and shy personality types. It offers sequential goals, in which people branch out and meet 3 new people at an event, but also offers less-threatening options such as meeting only 1 new person at a time. Because the article is on a school website, there are also opportunities to explore the website further, for information unrelated to networking altogether. This article is also a helpful resource for future career research and exploration.

This is an article written by the CBC (April 2013) reporting the common practice of outsourcing jobs to foreign workers by Canadian banks. It points the finger particularly at RBC and its close relationship to iGate, a foreign IT company, which receives 11% of its revenue from RBC. Canadian Bank outsourcing is kept very private, therefore it is difficult to identify how many Canadian jobs have actually been lost. In 2012, at least 45 Canadian jobs at RBC were lost, and at CIBC, at least 41. This has resulted in fewer full-time positions and the banks have offered very little support for lay-offs.

An interesting current community and university partnership research project on precarious work and its impact on poverty in Ontario.